We are a Scandinavian-born, family-owned tour operator with a global wingspan. Our company was established in 1986 by Søren Rasmussen, who is chairman today and his wife and children all work in the company’s management team.
As a young biologist with an appetite for exploring the world, Søren traveled to Africa and was completely captivated by the fantastic wildlife, spectacular scenery and the unique cultural environment. He founded the company to share his passion for Africa and started by sending guests on tented safaris in Kenya.Søren has always emphasized that all products should be build from scratch with deep attention to detail, leading to full control over the customer’s travel experience. Today, this success is achieved through subsidiaries and by owning several hotels, bush camps, bus companies and cruise ships.Even though safaris were initially the main product, when Albatros Travel started as a company in 1986, the product range quickly expanded into other exotic destinations around the world.Another natural expansion was the establishment of a new office in Kenya where the fascination for travel and adventure all began. We have since expanded our Africa operation, under the brand Albatros Africa, with two more offices. One in Tanzania, where we have a tented bush camp and an office in South Africa, where we have 3 bush camps, a nature reserve with 4 country lodges and a bus company.
Additionally, we also started growing our core activities in the Nordics, where we are now the market leader within the group travel category in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. All of these operations are conducted out of our headquarters in Copenhagen, Denmark.
When Søren went to Svalbard in the Arctic region for the first time in 1995, he was completely taken with it. This resulted in extensive travelling and exploration of the polar regions, and eventually the acquisition of several hotels in Greenland and a bus company under the brand Albatros Arctic Circle. Søren also invested in five cruise ships suitable for polar exploration. In 2017 Albatros Expeditions was established to handle our cruise operations to these regions.
With the desire to expand the range of adventure travels and to reach new target groups, we came up with the idea of an extreme marathon on the Chinese wall, and thus “The Great Wall Marathon” was founded in 1999. This was the beginning of many more fascinating marathons around the world from our Albatros Adventure Marathons team.
Read about our Corporate Social Responsibility commitment.
Our story
1986
Albatros Travel is established by biologist Søren Rasmussen and starts with safari tours in Kenya.
1987
Albatros Travel delves into adventure travel in Indonesia in particular. A support foundation for the Penan people of Borneo is established.
1991
Albatros Adventure is formed.
1992
Albatros Travel documents the fight against logging in Borneo. The footage is shown on ABC and NBC in the United States and on several TV stations in Europe.
1994
China and Greenland are included as new destinations in the product portfolio. The Kenya office is established.
The same year, Albatros Travel develops ecoturism in Pusuaga, West Papua, Indonesia and holds the first ecoturism seminar with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).
1995
Albatros Travel is awarded a European Travel award for sustainable travel.
Pioneers shark diving trips in South Africa and introduces hiking trips in Samburu, Kenya.
1996
Albatros Travel celebrates its 10-year anniversary.
Diving trips to Svalbard, ecoturism education and photography trips to Guyana, Costa Rica and Ecuador.
1997
Albatros Travel works with the Danish Government to save forests in Sabah, Borneo. Introduces diving trips to Antartica.
1998
Bhutan and Mongolia are new destinations.
1999
The first Great Wall Marathon takes place. The South African branch is established.
2000
The first and only Kilimanjaro Adventure Marathon is held. Participants hike to the top and run a marathon down and around the mountain! Only thirteen runners complete the race and Søren Rasmussen is one of them.
2001
The first Polar Circle Marathon takes place in Greenland.
2002
The Tanzanian branch is established.
2003
The Great Wall Marathon is cancelled because of the SARS outbreak. The first trip to Danmarkshavn in east Greenland.
2004
Albatros Travel starts its outbound operations in Sweden.
2005
The Norwegian outbound business is established. The first Big Five Marathon is held in South Africa.
2006
Albatros Travel acquires a Greenlandic shipping company, Arctic Umiaq Line with Topas and Profil Rejser, Ocean Nova liner. Albatros Travel opens an eco lodge, Karen Blixen Camp in Masai Mara, Kenya.
2009
The first Petra Desert Marathon takes place (then Petra Marathon).
2010
Albatros Travel brings the first tourists to Hans Island off the coast of West Greenland.
2011
Albatros Travel celebrates its 25-year anniversary.
2012
The China and India offices are established.
2013
The first Bagan Temple Marathon takes place in Bagan, Myanmar.
2017
Albatros Arctic Circle is established. Hotel Hvide Falk in Greenland website launched. Albatros Travel starts its outbound operations in Poland. Albatros Travel introduces individual travel.
